1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to performing a task and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for performing a task, which can modify a task depending on devices connected through a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the development of communication and network technology, various types of home networks have appeared. Various technologies for increasing the convenience with which a user can control and monitor various devices, constituting a home network, have been proposed.
In an environment in which a plurality of devices are connected to each other through a network, as in the case of a home network, and respective devices perform unique functions, a task requested by a user or an external system is represented by a combination of operations, which are functions supported by the devices connected to each other through the network.
In other words, a task requested by a user or an external system includes at least one operation, and the task is completed when all operations included in the task are completed.
Respective operations included in the task are in an incomplete state at an initial time, and are sequentially performed in a predetermined sequence. In this case, if an operation to be performed first is performed by a specific device connected through the network, and the results of the performance of the operation are applied to the task, a subsequent operation is ready to be performed, and is also performed by a device that supports the operation.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a related art procedure for performing a task. In FIG. 1, the case where a task includes a first operation, a second operation and a third operation, and operations are sequentially performed in the order of first, second and third operations, is shown as an example. Further, the case where the first, second and third operations are supported by first, second and third devices, respectively, is shown as an example.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art procedure for performing a task is performed so that, if a task 10 is initially requested by a user or an external system, operations are performed in a predetermined sequence for the operations 11, 12 and 13 included in the task 10. Since FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which operations are performed in the order of the first operation 11, the second operation 12 and the third operation 13, the first operation 11 in the task 10 is performed first by a first device 21.
Next, when the first operation 11 has been completed, the second operation 12 is performed by a second device 22. When the second operation 12 has been completed, the third operation 13 is performed by a third device 23. When the operation 13 has been completed, the requested task 10 is completed.
However, in FIG. 1, when the second device 22 that supports the second operation 12 is not powered on, or is disconnected from the network, there is a problem in that the second operation 12 cannot be performed after the first operation 11 has been completed, thus the task 10 is not completed.
In other words, in an environment in which the connection of devices dynamically varies, as in the case of a home network, the completion of the task 10 cannot be guaranteed even if the devices connected to the network are sufficiently accounted for at the time of generating the task 10.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-278344 discloses a system and method of disposing a task allocation module between a multimedia printer and an external media processing system, thus outputting various types of input multimedia formats through printed output or electronic output. However, the disclosed system and method relate to a scheme of sharing task resources and performing a task through the use of the resources independently or in combination with each other, thus meeting various use purposes. However, a method is not provided for modifying a task depending on the connection of devices, in an environment in which the connection of the devices connected to a network dynamically varies.